Drip Tray: SO-42 Ice Box (fridge) Repair Ideas? Replacement?

[DadaCheese]

Although I feel certain that Everett will kindly redirect this new thread to one already in existence that my searches didn't yeild, I'm posting the following question:

What have YOU done to either repair, or replace your SO-42's ice box drip tray?

Pictured below is mine.
It seems that back in high school (20+ years ago) I last used masking tape to keep it together.
I'm hoping for a better/more permanent fix.

Anyone else want to chime in on either;
A) how to best repair the one I have?
B) explain (or even better; show)what you did to fix or replace yours?

Thanks everyone.

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Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat.

[BarryL]

Never had to fix mine but it I think they are polystyrene: same has plastic models. If you could get some old school glue like Testors in the orange tube I bet it would glue that break pretty well. You could buy some flat stock polystyrene and lap over the cracks with 1/2" strips to reinforce it and make it more watertight. Use lots of glue and put it on both halves and both sides of the bottom area.

[Major Woody]

Make a new one out of plastic. Make a positive and a negative mold and start with a very warm piece of plastic. Push em together, let em cool, then make another mold for the little dimple thing in the bottom. It will stretch. Trim when finished

[DadaCheese]

BarryL, Major Woody; thanks for chiming in...

Was going to take BarryL's advice initially, but as it was cheaper at Tap Plastics to have them do the repair work (a menial charge) than buy some glue, I had them do it.

As to Major Woody's idea, I had the same thought(s) concerning making a mold, etc. Not sure what that can/does cost, but I was curious to ask a vacuum mold place here in CA what they would charge.
It is fairly high:

Cost of Mold creation: $300
Cost of production:
1 each X $232.00 + $300 ÷ 1 = $532
2 each X $132.00 each + $300 ÷ 2 = $282
4 each X $83.00 each + $300 ÷ 4 = $158
10 each X $52.00 each + $300 ÷ 10 = $82
20 each X $42.00 each + $300 ÷ 20 = $57

WOULD anyone be interested in such a thing?
Beyond the cost of individual drip-trays, there's still the actual drain hardware which would be needed...
Anyone know where to find pretty much the same dimensions of the drain in the picture below?
...and then there is the cost of shipping and handling to consider (to the individual people who would want a re-manufactured drip-tray.

...and what about all the folks missing the plastic-covered metal grate which holds the ice block for the SO-42 ice boxes?

Sorry for all the open-ended musings; it's how my brain works.
If anyone has thoughts about all this, please join in.

_________________
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Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat.

[Major Woody]

TAP is great. Nice that they could patch it.
If mine was missing, I believe I'd TIG one out of stainless before I would drop that kind of coin on plastic.
The vinyl coated wire rack thing...a patient man with a spot welder and some metal rod could make one but I think I'd go with powder coating rather than the vinyl dip. Where does one go to have something vinyl dipped on a small scale? I'm sure that in industry they have a big vat of it but to do just one item it seems like it would be very costly and then what would you do with the excess?

[xavi_242]

Turned out pretty nice, I don't see clearly in your pics but be sure to make some reinforcement from under the lip, where you glued. That area get a lot of stress, specially when you are trying to fit a ice block that is 5mm taller than the gap btwn the drip tray and tha upper tray...
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1967 Split SO-42 Dormobile

[DadaCheese]

Musing and questioning here.

QUESTION:

...how much would a newly formed SO-42 ice box drip tray be worth to people?

I'm not asking for profit reasons, I am asking how much is the high-dollar amount someone would pay for a newly made one (molded via vacuum injection method using an original as the template)?

Secondarily; how many folks are out there that are missing a drip tray or have a broken one? What, if any, is the demand for this part?

FYI; this would be without the metal drain plug, I'm just wondering about the tray; how much would people be willing to pay just for the tray?

It is the set-up (tooling) fee that makes it pretty darn expensive, since, if for example, you're doing a run of 10 of them, those initial ten would have to take the burden of the tooling cost as part of the overall price.
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LET'S SAY that I found a pretty good plastic shop in my area that can do this kind of work.
Let's also say that it would be possible for them to reproduce (same method) ALL of the plastic ice-box parts; the door, the entire main "tub"/body of the ice-box as well as the drip tray...

The tub part would be the most expensive to "tool" (create the mold).
It requires having an original one in good enough shape to create a vacuum mold from. The tooling for that would at least be a couple of thousand, but the unit price (after that) might be, say, $300? so if you make 10, that'd be about $500 a piece for JUST the plastic "tub" part of the ice-box; but brand new plastic.
SHIPPING a piece like that could also add several bucks to the cost for someone who wants one too.

So, I guess I'm asking; what kind of demand do you think is out there for this?
Would anyone want/need all new plastic components to their SO-42 ice boxes?

Me, personally, I an NOT interested in profit from this kind of endeavor; I would want each piece made to be an even division of the overall cost, and no extra money charged just so all us SO-42 owners can have some additional longevity to their ice-boxes.

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...and as a final side note; if ANYONE has any kind of lead on finding a part similar enough to the drain hardware (pictured below) let me know.
New that is; something that can be bought now/today to replace missing ones.

_________________
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Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat.

[epayne611]

I'd definitely be interested. I just broke mine. Was finishing up the seal replacement and new insulation following your write up, I decided to also plasti-dip the inside tub. Then I decided to do the tray, since it was really yellow in comparison to the now white tub. So I attempted to remove the little drain and broke the plastic all around it I knew I should've just taped it off.

I bought a used early bay tray, the drain nipple is slightly different in shape but otherwise dimensions are the same, $45. It's in useable shape but with the amount we use our cooler I'd rather have a nice new one without cracks.

Maybe $50-80 for the tray???

[DadaCheese]

[easy e]

You'd have to round the hex... and mill it down a fuzz... to get the thin flange on the top side of the plastic.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Brass-Bulkhead-Fitting-Shut...2456656279

I saw some similar type stuff after searcing on, oddly enough... "tray drain fitting"
The little drains at the bottom of brew pub tap / pour areas are sorta close match.
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aka: Evan
Spreadsheet for Bus RPM, based on gearing & tire size (Excel format)
Searchable, click-navigable 1958 Bus Parts List

[DadaCheese]

[epayne611]

Plasti-dip is just a plastic spray on liner in a can. Lots of people use it on rims, even entire cars...it came out nice, and as the guy on your your other thread that did it first said, it makes it easy to wipe clean as well. Very easy to apply, you will only need one can...would recommend watching some YouTube vids on application first though.

Here are some pics...I'm not done with my ice box yet so it's kinda dirty but you can see how white it is compared to the tray.

Also big thanks for doing all this!

Edit: I'm laid up post surgery right now...once I'm more mobile I can clean and take much better pics for you

[srfndoc]

That came out great (the fridge parts).

As for the market for new fridge parts, if you don't want to do it yourself (rightly so since its $$$) I would see if Repro Westy would be interested in funding it. They make the new wood boxes so this would allow them to do a complete/new SO42 cooler.

I have a good tray in mine but they are all brittle and ready to crack at any moment. Put me down for one of the new ones if they make it thru QA.
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[DadaCheese]

[nlorntson]

I put this in my SO-44 icebox and so far it has worked well!

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8370853#8370853

[Clara]

[nlorntson]

[Busstom]

I'd buy one, and I need one! Unfortunately, mine is a '75 Westy icebox.

Now that I've been researching it, I'm a little confused as to why the drip trays sit below the ice rack, rather than the ice block actually sitting IN the tray, and then the whole works supported by the wire rack. Also, I've seen pics with differing install methods: some show the tray and rack hanging in the same slot, and others have the tray sitting one notch below the rack, on the next slot down.

[Clara]

[DadaCheese]

Clara, with her expertise and kindness described exactly how/why the drip tray works the way that it does.

PS: Clara, was pleased to see your dad at Bus Fest 13 yesterday in Antioch.

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Not wanting to loose track; here's the list of people who are interested in these newly produced drip trays.

Again; I'm not holding anyone to getting one until we see how they have turned out...
...and also the reminder that they will NOT come with the metal drain plug.

As per my earlier post (with the true and honest price break-down), the cost is high, but I am loosing money (paying for the $500 set-up cost myself), and NOT making a profit from this.
They'll be $80 each and that includes shipping within the continental U.S.
I'm not putting up a classified until/unless I still have any of the 8 unspoken for.

Here's the list of folks who are interested (there will be a total of 8 available):

1) epayne611
2) nlorntson
3) Busstom
4)
5)
6)
7)
8 )
_________________
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Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat.